HOW VAIN IT IS TO SIT DOWN TO WRITE WHEN YOU HAVE NOT STOOD UP TO LIVE.

- Henry David Thoreau

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

My Favorites List

I recently reorganized my "favorites" list in Internet Explorer, moving some blogs up, some down, and some out.

As I did, I began analyzing why I made the moves. Yes, of course the ones who have a Dave's Window link are automatically the first ones I visit daily... but anyway. I never really thought about why I look forward to certain blogs more than others. I think I figured it out.

Fake factor.

There are some blogs which are understood to be fiction, an outlet for creative writing... those are some of my favorites. Others are straight from the heart and real, I like those too. Some are editorial opinion pieces, political and otherwise. Great! Love 'em.

The ones I moved down or off my list are the ones that set off my bullshit detector. It's fairly easy to sense authenticity, and although some of them are very creative, (some really funny shit) they just don't feel genuine.

I'm not the perfect blogger, sometimes I "hang it out there" a little too much... and truly I'm not HALF the writer that (I started to list my favorites here, but there are too many) some of my 'net friends are.

But what you get here is not contrived. Some is fiction, some is real. It's all me, though.

I've been reevaluating my favorites list as well lately. I get tired of going to some blogs that haven't been updated in over 2 weeks. I know people can't update everyday, but going for 2 weeks is a really long time.

I recently reorganized my favorites list too. I go through fits and starts about what I read the most. A particular estranged relative's livejournal, for example, makes me want to jam a pencil in my eye. Your blog, on the other hand, is excellent reading that does not cause me to want to commit wanton acts of self-abuse. This is important after I've been drinking. :)

Yeah, it's really confusing when people pretend they did crazy stuff like live in London Zoo or make out with Reba at the CMA's. How do I separate what's true from what's made up? Do I actually have to use my WITS?

Somebody commented about my blog on another site: "Her blog confused me, so I moved on." I went to his and couldn't understand a word (nor read his 7-point font). I think some people just can't understand each other--literally. I'm noticing that the blogs I stay with, and my own readers, are mostly like-minded people. Not that we're the SAME, but that we get each other. People who don't get me, are in turn "not gotten" by me. Isn't that an unusual phenomenon?

Woah, I have written too much and now I missed the school bus. Dammit!ps Your blog is great.

Well as you probably know Dave, I come here everyday. What I find terribly ironic is that I love your brief commentaries and mixed bag (for lack of a better term) - which is everything my own blog is not. Your writing seems more like conversation than lecture, which is a gift. Never change your style. It would be a crying shame.